’nuff said really…

We were up early this morning so that we could pack our bags and try
out our first bit of real travelling. We caught the Sky Train to the
bus terminal, had a 5 hour bus ride to Trat, an hour long wait for a
ride to the ferry, an hour long wait for the ferry and a shared taxi
to our hostel on Koh Chang. Tiring but absolutely fascinating. It was
dark when we arrived so we have no idea what the beach looks like but
I’m sure we’ll have a pleasant surprise in the morning.

So now we are sat in a very nice restaurant stuffing out faces with
really good food while listening to a CD of Neil Young, UB40 and reggae.

Just a quickie before we head off tomorrow morning to Trat and onto
Koh Chang. Here’s a photo from the 61st floor of a hotel that had an
amazing rooftop bar. Bye bye budget!! Maybe we’ll have a cheaper day
tomorrow.

Had a great day today starting with a very nice breakfast at our
hostel, Lub D. We then walked to the nearby Skytrain station where we
bought some day passes so that we could explore the city.

Our first stop was at the Eastern bus terminal where we bought our
£2.50 tickets which will take us to Trat on Monday morning. We then
made our way to the stunning Chatuchak weekend market which I’m sure
will stick around as one of the highlights of our trip. The sights,
sounds and smells were amazing and you could buy pretty much anything
from tiny puppy dogs to 3 foot high budda heads. The market is made up
of 8000 stalls though it feels more like 80,000. They are all squeezed
in together with just enough room for the crowds to fit between. Below
is a picture of one of the quieter bits.

Finally we visited one of Bangkok’s bigger malls which after the
market just felt very odd, so we are now back at the hostel. Tonight
we’ll go in search of beer we think. After all our walking today we
could do with a drink!

P.S. We met our first fellow backpacker last night. Guess where he was
from…only bloody Fallowfield!! (for non-mancs that’s about 2 miles
from where we live)